Photo by: Eric Goodman
Left: Class #125 firefighters & instructors
Right: Class 125 practical skills demonstration 

(MIAMI, Jan. 9, 2015) – On Friday, Jan. 9, 2015, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) celebrated the graduation of its newest firefighter recruit class at MDFR’s Training Facility in Doral, Florida.

The ceremony began by acknowledging the hard work and dedication of Class 125 during the intense 10 week training academy and concluded with a technical skills demonstration highlighting their abilities.

“You have chosen a career for life,” said Training Division Chief Jeff Strickland. “Every one of you needs to continue to grow as firefighters and strive to be the best you could be.”

The new firefighters, 17 men and one woman, bring extensive experience to MDFR since more than half of the new recruits have served with other career fire departments.

“You can be proud of MDFR and our Local 1403 as we have pioneered Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Air Rescue, HazMat, Technical Rescue Team (TRT), Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), and the Venom Program that I created,” stated Local 1403 Union President Al Cruz. “You have chosen a noble career where you will spend the next quarter century or longer helping your neighbor and our visitors when they have an emergency.”

MDFR is one of the top ten largest fire-rescue departments in the United States with more than 2,300 employees, of which almost 2,000 are uniformed firefighters.

For more information, please contact MDFR’s Public Affairs Bureau at 786-331-5200.